Today’s Daily Dose comes from the current issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Researchers found, after following over 238 thousand women over the course of 40 years, that women who had a BMI of 30 or greater at the age of 18 had more than twice the risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS), compared to women with a BMI between 18.5 and 20.9. “Our results suggest that weight during adolescence, rather than childhood or adulthood, is critical in determining the risk of MS,” said study author Kassandra Munger, ScD, of the Harvard School of Public Health. The study authors theorize the link between obesity and MS may be that obese women tend to have lower vitamin D levels (higher vitamin D levels are thought to reduce the risk of MS). In addition, fatty tissue can produce substances thought to affect immune and cellular function which may be associated with MS. [via Medical News Today]
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Dr. Steven Chang, the author of DailyDose, is a staff physician with Kosmix RightHealth. Dr. Chang practices Family Medicine at the University of California Davis Medical Center, where his medical interests include both pediatric and geriatric care, public health, gay and lesbian health, and sleep medicine. Dr. Chang trained at the Stanford University affiliated O'Connor Hospital, and was a research fellow at the National Institute of Health. He holds an M.D. from McGill University and a BA in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University.